Good Shepherd

The fourth Sunday of Easter is called "Good Shepherd Sunday," rightly because of our Propers for that day, Collect and Gospel, as you will see below. It's noteworthy that Jesus here uses the I AM sayings that are a memorable feature of the Gospel according to John, "I AM the gate for the sheep", again, "I AM the gate". He is picking up God's own name for himself as God speaks it to Moses at the Burning Bush in Exodus 3, I AM. I AM that I AM. When the Israelites ask who sent you to them, tell them I AM sent you. This is my name forever. 

Speaking the name of God was forbidden. Seeing the holy name in the Hebrew text, a Jew would pronounce it Adonai, or haShem, depending on the circumstance and context. That Jesus relates himself personally to the unspeakable Name of God is damnable blasphemy to those who heard him say it. But it is part of Gospel John's high christology that Jesus thus identifies himself, deliberately, in some sense even as an affront; as well as that in the Gospel according to John, the miracles that Jesus does are done by not as happenstance events but as revelatory signs of who he is.

My interest this morning is more in the responsive psalm, though, Psalm 23, the Twenty-third Psalm. Most every Christian enters adulthood with the 23rd Psalm in heart and mind. Speaking for myself, as a child it was the first passage of Scripture my mother taught me and led me to commit to memory. I was probably five. I learned it again in Cove School and had to stand up and recite it before the class, getting a gold star, or it may have been a red star, by my name for that memory verse, on the poster-board that was on the classroom wall from the first day of school in the fall semester. 

Wandering, it's my blog, I can and do wander at will. There's more. The paradox of the shepherd who is also the lamb. The good shepherd is the lamb who was slain. At the Last Supper and in our Holy Communion, the host is the feast: at the breaking of the bread, "Alleluia, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us! Therefore let us keep the feast, Alleluia!

For the 23rd Psalm, the English translation Americans learn is invariably the King James Version; and that's still so even though the KJV is long out of vogue in usage. But it's ours, and it's memorable, and it flows poetically. And if in church on a Sunday some cockeyed cleric leads us in a different translation, the day is ruined! But look! There are many translations, several dozen in English alone, in our American English. One of them really intrigues me - - The Message  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_H._Peterson by Eugene Peterson is almost startlingly delightful. Check it out: 

23rd Psalm: The Message

God, my shepherd!
    I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
    you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
    you let me catch my breath
    and send me in the right direction.
Even when the way goes through
    Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
    when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
    makes me feel secure.
You serve me a six-course dinner
    right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
    my cup brims with blessing.
Your beauty and love chase after me
    every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
    for the rest of my life.



See, there's more than one way, no matter what the topic. 



Also in mind is the hymn that's a child's prayer:

Jesus tender shepherd, hear me
Bless thy little lamb tonight.
Through the darkness be thou near me,
keep me safe till morning light.


And the hymn that's a liturgical song:

Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy
Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy
Jesus, Lamb of God, grant us peace.


Anyway, here are the "Propers" for next Sunday.


The Collect
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


The First Lesson
Acts 2:42-47

Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.


The Response
Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
    he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
    he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness 
      for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
    thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me 
    in the presence of mine enemies:
    thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 
    all the days of my life:
    and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.


The Epistle
1 Peter 2:19-25

It is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

“He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.


The Gospel
John 10:1-10

Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

RSF&PTL

T+

Art: The Life of Jesus Christ: An African Interpretation by the Mafa People in Cameroun.